Valve-operating mechanism



June 16, 1925.

1.542.787 C.'E. FULLER VALVE OPERA'iING uscmmrsu Filed July 31, 1923 h :s Shoal-Shut 1 IN M C E FULLER VALVE OPERATING MECHANISM Flled July 31 1923 3 Sheets Sheet 2 June 16, 1925.

June 16, 1925.

C. E. FULLER VALVE OPERATING MECHANISM Filed July 51, 1923 3 sheets sheet 3 building or loading apparatus.

Patented June 16, 1925.

" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CL'AUD E. FULLER, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

VALVE-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Application filed July a1, 1923; Serial No. 654,898.

To all whom itmay concern:

Be it knownthat I, CLAUDE. FULLER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York,

have invented an Improvement in Valve Operating Mechanisms, of which the following description, in connection with the ac In my Patent No.,1,491,771, dated April 22, .1924, I have described and claimed the novel features of an apparatus for taking brick as they issue from adrying apparatus,

preferably apipe rack drier, and in my copending applications, Serial No. 608,057, filed Dec. 20, 1922, Patent No. 1,487,326, dated March 18, 1924, and Patent No. 1,510,- 866, dated Oct. 7 1924, I have described and claimed'apparatus associated with the first mentioned application, all the various pieces of apparatus being capable of conjoint ac tion to conveyv the bricks as they issue from the drying apparatus preparatory to subsequent handling by an apparatus that transports them to a transfer car on which they are moved to a position in'a kiln for the final setting.-

In mypresent inventionI have designed an apparatus for lifting and transporting parallelly arranged rows of bricks on a tiltable table and from thence to a transfer car, such apparatus having associated therewith. as essential elements the plurality of rows of automatically operable brick gripping devices described and claimed in my Patent No. 1,510,886. In transporting the oup of rows of bricks from the tiltable table to the transfer car I have, as described 1 construction and arrangement of parts comin my Patent No. 1,510,886, above referred to, provided an aircylinder for raising and lowering the lifting apparatus, but have not shown means associated with such air cylinder 'forrfoperating the same either: manually or automatically. In building the rows of bricks in position ,on' the transfer car into a unit stack, it is necessary to lay, for

example, one; course of brick comprised'of.

a luralityof parallelly arranged rows of brick and the ,ne'xt layer of brick to rest on the first layer of brick with the bricks thereon extending at right angles thereto, this arrangement being alternated for the height of theunit stack in order to make such unit stack a self supporting unit, one not liable to derangement. It is, therefore,

necessary that the lifting apparatus be capable of rotation through an angle of 360 and it is also essential that means be pro- .vided thereon for controlling the air supply to the air cylinder to lower or lift the lifting apparatus, asthe case may be, regardless of the position of the lifting apparatus to the rowsof bricks on the tiltable table, It is also necessary to provide means for easing the shock tothe apparatus when the. lifting apparatus is lowered with any degree of speed into engagement with a plurality of rows of bricks on the tiltable table and to reverse the direction of flow of air in the air cylinder to insure a rapid return of the lifting'apparatus together with I its load of bricks tothe uppermost limit of its travel.

Ihave, in my present invention, devised a lifting apparatus in which the apparatus is designed tov be raised and lowered by air admitted to either end of anair cylinder at will and have, as one of the principal objects of my invention, provided a system of levers whereby the air supply to the air cylinder may be controlled from either side or corner of the apparatus as the same is rotated and have, as one of the principal objects of my invention, associated with the ,plungerofthe air cylinder a means cooperating with the air valve and with the lifting apparatus itself whereby thedirection of movement of the apparatus is automatically reversed when the lifting devices on the liftin'g 'apparatus have been brought into position relative to the bricks of a plurality of parallelly arranged rows of bricks on the tiltable table. I

Otherobjects and novel features of the prising my improved apparatus will appear as the description of the invention pro- Fig. 2 is an end elevation looking to the I right from Fig. 1,. this view being shown partly in section to illustrate the manner of reversing the direction of flow of air in the air cylinder, and

Fig. 3 is a plan view.

Referring to the drawings, 10 designates plates or strips of metal, such as iron or steel, secured together at their .ends by angle irons 11 to form a rectangular frame. The angle members 11 extend downwardly from the strips 10 and at their lower ends have secured strips 12 which likewise form a rectangular frame similar in size to the rectangular frame formed by the members 10, the angle irons 1-1 acting as means for spacing the frameworks apart from each other; To the framework comprised of the members 12 1s secured a plurality of parallelly arranged strips or plates 13, the space between each adjacent stripor plate 13 being sufiicient to allow the lower end of brick gripping members 1% to protrude and ext e-nd a distance below the lower portion of the framework 11 that is determined by the length of the members 14 below their pivotal point. hlounted within the angle irons 11 and between the lower end of the upper strips 10 and the lower strips 12 is a rectangular framework comprised of strips 15'of a size suflicient to'jform a good, but sliding, fit within the corner angle iron 11 as bearings and between a pair of oppositely arranged plates or strips 15 extends a plurality of parallelly arranged olates or strips 16 secured to cross members 11 by bolts 18, the strips 16 being of a width slightly less than the width of the strips 13 and so arranged as to bring the slot defined by adjacent strips substantially vertically over the middle portion of the strips 13, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The upper ends of the gripping plates 11 extend through the slots formed 'by the strips 16 and the reciprocating movement of the frame formed by the members 15, 16. and 17 serves to bring the lower ends of the gripping members 14 into the gripping position or the releasing position, as the case may be, the reciprocating frame formed by the members 15, 16, and 17 being locked against rotative movement with respect to the members 10 and 12 by the mechanism shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 at 19 and as clearly described and claimed in my .copending application, Serial No. 562,256, and above referred to. On each side of the apparatus and secured to the plateslOand 12 by rivets 20 are plates or strips 21 whose function is to prevent the movement or bulging outward of the rectangular frames forming the apparatus Secured to the plates or strips 17' and extending transverselyacross, and attached to, several of the same in any desired manner are members 22 which are secured by bolts or rivets 23 a base plate 24. i

The base plate are; provided'with a vertica 'll'y arranged hole in which-is fitted a bearing 25 through which bearing is slidably mounted the vertically arranged shaft 26 and by means of which the entire apparatus may be lifted. The lower end of the shaft 26 is threaded at 27 to receive a collar '28. Arrai'rged within the base plate 21 and beneath the bearing sleeve 25 is a roller thrust bearing 29, and between the thrust bearing 29 and the upper face of the collar 28 is a coilspring 30 which tends to move the shaft 26 downwardly through hearing sleeve 25 while the thrust bearing 29 allows the base plate 21 and all parts car ried thereby ,to be rotated in a horizontal plane on the shaft 26. The upper end of the shaft 26 acts as a plunger in an air cylinder (not shown), the usual arrangements for applying air to either endof the cylinder to cause a movement in either direction of the shaft 26 being employed though, as the air dles the lifting apparatus, and it is necessary that such control be exercised byfthe operator regardless of the positionof the lifting apparatus on the shaft 26; that is, in loadinga transfer car with a plurality of brick, it is necessary, in order to obtain a ,self supporting unit pile, that the layers of brick on such car .be laid at right angles to each other and for this reason the lifting apparatus has been. so constructed as to be rotatable on the shaft 26. The valve mechanism for controlling theadmission ofair to either end of the air cylinder .(not shown) is secured to the plates 17 and such valve mechanism is indicated by the reference numeral 65, such mechanism including a pivoted lever 66 and by means of which the air may be directed to either the top or lower end of the air cylinder (not shown). Located at one end of the lifting apparatus, in suitable bearings, is a shaft 31 provided at one end with a bevel pinion 32 which meshes with a bevel pinion 33 secured to one end ofa shaft 31 that is rotatably mounted in suitable bearings on the adjacent side of the lifting apparatus and at right angles to the shaft 31. Secured to the shaft 31 at suitable intervals along its length and eX- tending upwardly therefrom are operating handles 35 and by means of which the shaft 31 may be rotated through an angle sufficiently large to accomplish the purpose for which it was designed this rotary movement of the shaft 31 causing through the bevel pini'ons 32 and a, corresponding angular movement of the shaft 34:. Secured to the shaft 31, and extending upwardly therefrom, is a lever 36 to the upper end of which is pivotally mounted one end of a link 37, the other end of this link 37 being pivotally attached to the upper end of the control lever 66 on the air valve mechanism 65. By utilizing either of the handles 35, the lever 66 may be operated through themedium of the shaft 31, lever 36, and link 37 to control the valve mechanism and thereby control the admission of air to the air cylinder (not shown). The above construction, as so far described, will make it possible to control the valvev mechanism 65 from one side or end of the lifting device. To control such mechanism from the opposite side or end of the lifting device, there is provided a shaft 38 rotatably mounted in suitable bearings 39, and secured to said shaft and extending upwardly therefrom is an operatinghandle 40pto which is pivotally mounted one end of a link 41, the other end of this link being pivotallv attached to the lower end of a downwardly extending arm 42 attached to the shaft 31 so that movement of the handle 40 will cause, through the link 41, a corresponding movement of the shaft 31 and, therefore, a movement of the lever 66 of the valve mechanism 65. Secured to the shaft 34 at any desired point or points is a handle 42 and by means of which the shaft 34 may be rotated, which rotation through the bevel gears 33, 32, transmitting like rotary motion to the shaft 31, and therefore operatin in the manner above described, lever 66 of the valve mechanism 65. On the opposite side or end of the lifting device from the side on which is located the shaft 34 is pivotally mounted an operating handle 43 to which is pivotally attached one end of a connecting rod 44, the other end of this connecting rod being pivotally attached to the lower end of a crank 45 that is secured to the shaft 34, and it is obvious that movement of the upper end of the operating handle 43 will cause a rotary movement through a predetermined angle of the shaft 34 which, in the manner above de scribed, will cause a movement of the lever 66 of the valve mechanism 65. Further, it will be obvious that, regardless of the relative angular position of the lifting device in a horizontal plane with respect to the shaft 26, the operator may, without altering his position. rotate, manually, the lifting device on the'shaft 26 and may control the valve mechanism 65by means of any of the numerous operating handles disposed about the periphery of the lifting device.

Assuming that the lifting device is to be utilized as described and claimed in the oopending application, Serial No. 737,750, filed September 15, 1924, in the name of Raymond C..Penfield and Claud E. Fuller, and that it is desired to transfer a layer or course of brick from the collecting table to the transfer car, the operator will bring the will cause the lifting device to be moved vertically and then in a horizontal plane over the transfer car and will then so operate the mechanism as to lower the car into unloading position. During this downward movement of the lifting device to unloading position, the operator rotates, the lifting device on the shaft 26 to properly position the layer or course of brick on the transfer car, and when the lifting device is vertically over the transfer car, the one or the other of the operating handles is moved to control the valve mechanism in such a manner as to allow air to pass to the proper end of the air cylinderreferred to to lower the lifting device onto the transfer car. When the car has reached its lowermost position,and the While I have necessarily shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention somewhat in detail, it is to be understood that I may vary the size, shape, and arrangement of parts within wide limits without departing from the spirit of the invention. v

Havingthus described myinvention, what I claim as new is: i I

1. An improved valve controlling mechanism comprising a valve, a control lever pivotallv mounted thereon, a plurality of shafts arranged in the form of a parallelogram, and means interlinking the said shafts whereby the valve mechanism is controlled from either side of the parallelogram.

2. An improved valve controlling mechanism for brick lifting devices and the like comprising a shaft, means for'rotating the same through a predetermined angle, an arm securedto said shaft, a valve including a CLAUD E. FULLER. 

